The Judgment of the World
by LadyLunarPhoenix
Summary: Someone wants the power that Aki wields and they're not above crushing the one person who can control her. If you can't beat Yusei in card games, what else is there? But to crush the Saint's heart.
1. Prologe

Judgement of the World

Written By: Lady Lunar Phoenix

Beta: None

A/N: Saw the Japanese ending of the series, hated it so much decided to rewrite it. So for those of you who are interested, the things that I have changed!

If you're reading 'A Past and Future Pharaoh', the history of the Game and the world is used to template the history of this world. Thus there are no 'psychics', people like Aki are the re-emergance of people gifted like in Ancient Egypt. Forget the 'six months later' this story takes place shortly after the battle against the last of the Earthbound Gods. I am removing the GX history from the timeline completely, so expect that the students of the GX Duel Acadamy to be the students you see here in this one. I'm going to try and improve upon the ending.

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A tree can not survive when it has been split asunder, one side, the weaker side, must die off if there is a chance for the whole to survive. Self preservation and self sacrifice were born from such a simple concept. Which is greater, the sacrifice of one life for the sake of many, or the abandonment of the many to preserve just one? When the Nameless Pharaoh sealed away the Shadow games, his cousin followed suit and banned the teaching of those very skills. The power wasn't something that was 'taught' it was an inborn gift, and those born with this ability couldn't change what they were. Even if what they were was lost to time and ignorance...

But people feared what they didn't understand, feared anything stronger then themselves out of the need to preserve their own existence. Not everyone was strong enough to face down the barrel of the loaded gun, and grin. Which was why the Arcadia Movement was created, so that those who were stronger, or different had a place to run to. It was her first home, when her birth home turned cold, it was where she didn't have people give her dirty looks for being a monster. Only respect, respect that she wanted, though most times people were too afraid to come close to her.

'I should have been kinder back then, too. If I had been, if I took Tobi in, then perhaps he wouldn't have died.'

She was in a dream, she knew that, standing amid the field of roses that bloomed with an iridescent light. The heady sweet fragrance was one she knew so well, the soft touch of the petals more pleasant then the softest silks. Roses didn't glow like the stars above, the sky above was without light, the earth below only bore the light of the roses, and she... Aki stood alone in a field of wild roses, her heart tense in a strange sense of anticipation. Someone was waiting for her, deep down inside she could feel it.

"Aki."

Her name, just hearing it made her feel happy. As did the voice that said her name, even though it only reinforced the fact that she was dreaming. Divine was dead, eaten by the Earthbound God that Misty served. No one told her how it happened, but she understood why, and despite how much she felt for Divine there was no argument that could be argued against his death. When she felt his arms wrap around her, she could only smile as her eyes closed against the endless miles of roses.

"Divine, I've missed you," she sighed, leaning against him, feeling his strength and warmth at her back.

"I'm always here, Aki. Deep in your heart, for as long as you need me."

But there were things that the Arcadia Movement didn't give her, like control over her powers, or the ability to reach out to the world.

Look into the eyes of the Earthbound God and you saw yourself in the eyes of others. Unexplainable, a monster that the mind can not explain, but it allowed itself to become warped, disfigured...

"How have you been Aki?"

"I'm going back to Duel Academia," her voiced projected her wistful tone. "While the students who are in my class remember me from my time as the Witch, thus I suspect they'll be fearful. The younger kids, well there is Rua and Ruka."

The arms around her shifted slightly, turning her around to face him. He loved green, it complemented his red hair in it's own way. Multiple shades of green, from his pants, to his vest and shirt, the only things on him that weren't green, was his tie, shoes and socks in fact. Those were black.

"Really now? But what about your ability? You can't contain that power forever, it would be like trying to contain an earthquake in a bottle. Impossible." he asked, his eye, the one she could see, reflecting worry.

"I'm not containing it, I can control it. It's not easy, trying to think and act differently then before. But... Divine I wish you didn't die. I miss you so much."

"Aki? Why are you crying?" Divine asked, as he gently brushed away her tears.

"Because I couldn't do anything... I wanted to be of use. If I had been stronger, controlled my anger or thought about what my daddy was going through then I wouldn't have lashed out like that. I wasted years of my life because I just couldn't control myself. If I had learned that, then you might have still been alive."

"No Aki, it wasn't your place, the place of a child to think of adult matters. They should have realized that you were hurting and understood why you did what you did. They opted not to," Divine offered his voice a soothing comfort.

"Thank you," she replied, though she wasn't sure if she should do such a thing. Her eyes focused on the roses stretched out before her for miles around, bringing her mind a new analogy.

Roses couldn't grow inside their packets, they dried up and died if they did. If she only thought of herself, no one else it would be no different then being in a closed packet. But also, roses that were just randomly tossed onto the grass, had a smaller chance of survival, true they could, grow up and grow wild. But she had been down that road, and a wild rose was a lonely rose, as her lack of control drove people away. Everyone in the Arcadia Movement was a wild rose, Tobi was one that never got a chance to grow either.

But there was another type of rose...

"You've gotten quiet Aki, is something the matter?" His hand cupped her chin, gently guiding her face up to look up at him. "There shouldn't be secrets between us right."

That was right, there shouldn't have been secrets between them, he had been the first person who had taken interest in her. The first person who cared for her when the world turned its back on her, yet there was something... Tobi's memory began to slip away from her grasp... Misty's pain disappearing as his fingers stroked her face in a rhythmic pattern...

Twin roars suddenly broke the serene peace of the wild rose garden, while a hard wind suddenly tore rose petals from their their stems. Her instinct was to jerk around in order to face this potential threat. Every nerve singing a battle hymn while the feeling in her heart suddenly seemed to seize up. But for all the feelings she suddenly was assaulted by, there was Divine, holding her to face him. His fingers were on her chin, keeping her from looking behind her at whatever was going on.

"It's not important Aki, what's important is the bond we have right here."

Behind her a dragon's roar split the sky as it let the world know it's...


	2. Chapter 1

The Judgement of the World

Written By: Lady Lunar Phoenix

Beta: Wish I had one

A/N: This series takes place using the bad ending of my 'Past and Future Pharaoh' series.

"Big sister?" the twins peered at her from through the video call with a strange mixture of uncertainty and interest. Kuribon was barely visible over the bottom edge of the screen staring out at her as the pair waited for her response.

It took a second longer then she would have liked to realize that they were addressing her. The greeting 'Big Sister' was a far cry from 'Izayori-san' or 'Witch'; and it was going to take a bit of time before she got used to it. Indeed, it was clear in Ruka's eyes that she wasn't firmly confident that she even had permission to address Aki that way. Rua led the way, pushing himself up higher, more visible to the older girl and hogging up more attention. "Hey big sister? When do you think the work on the bridge will begin?"

So of course the twins would call about the bridge; with Rex dead there was no opposition to building a bridge between Neo Domino and Satellite anymore. His control over the city was slipping rapidly away and the twins wanted to see their big brother Yusei quite earnestly. But Yusei had returned to Satellite and the twins, though wealthy through their parents, weren't old enough to just hitch a ride. Not only that, Yusei didn't live at the orphanage, he crashed there when he was near by, but generally slept where he could find a place.

"There still is the issue of funding the bridge you two," she noted with a faint smile on her lips. "They settled on the design for the bridge yesterday, but it's not a straightaway connecting bridge, so it's going to be more expensive."

"Aww man. Why do grown ups have to make things so expensive and time consuming?" Rua protested dropping down onto the table. His arms folded up under his head, giving him a disgruntled puppy look with his ponytail bouncing a bit from the motion.

"Rua," Ruka sighed out his name in the typical 'this happens all the time' fashion. But as her eyes rolled away from the screen she frown. "Oh, big sister we have to go to school now. Um, may we see you after school? Ah just to spend time with?" Kuribon's innocent eyes blinked in time with Ruka's own, giving a double team effect of cute innocent eyes.

"Fine, I'll do my best to come see you at your condo," Aki agreed with that faint smile on her lips as she sat before the screen.

"Cool! See you later big sister!" Rua popped back up from his disgruntled posture before running off.

"I'm going to visit Divine before I go though," Aki never got to finish that statement. Ruka looked horrified and in the background the sound of Rua's sneakers skidding could be faintly heard. Even as Ruka began to vocalize her dismay Rua appeared in the camera shot again.

"You can't!"

"You musn't go."

"Big sister, don't you remember what happened the last time he got close to you?"

"He's in jail right? How are you going to see him?"

"Big sister, what if he uses you to get 'out' of jail? You'll be in big trouble!" Ruka's voice finally asserted itself.

"You'll scare people into hating you for real this time!" Rua added, causing Aki to lift up an eyebrow in mild disdainful amusement.

"People don't remember the Fortune Cup outside that Yusei won. They don't recall that you body slammed him into concrete or put people in the hospital. But if Divine uses whatever mind control on you again..." Rua shivered before continuing. "You just can't go!"

"I know that you're lonely, that it hurts that people reject you, but that's what Divine 'wants'. He wants you to hurt more so he can hurt others. Even if he makes you feel good about yourself, in the end he let your life just be empty," Ruka argued as her hand went to her birthmark while Kuribon settled on Ruka's shoulder. "We don't have to be lonely big sister, we can have friends and more out of life."

That was right, even as the twins kept rattling off reasons why Aki shouldn't go see Divine, they did have a point. Aki wasn't the only psychic duelist in the group, Ruka was also one with the added burden of a heart condition and young age. Perhaps Aki really was a 'big sister' in the group, but the pair looked at her so earnestly that she could find no way to deny them their request.

"Fine, I'll stay away from Divine, at least I won't face him alone?" She offered for which the twins looked vastly relieved.

"Thanks big sister!" Rua cheered as Ruka waved her farewell leaving Aki alone in her bedroom at loose ends for eight hours at the least. She didn't have anything to do, her eyes went to the newspaper on the side of the computer. Her father had left it behind when he went to work, and with nothing to do Aki had begun to read through it when she discovered something on the editorials.

East verses West. Arcadia Movement hot button issue?

It was a long winded one sided discussion about psychics and what the Movement was really about. She had already read the article several times over before picking it up and reading it again. Like the other victims of the Earthbound Gods, Divine had been restored having been eaten by Ccarayhua. But Misty had her brother's body exhumed and a proper autopsy performed, something she never had done in her grief. Now she served as an advocate for those who had died mysteriously from the hands of the Arcadia Movement. Her status as a model might not have on par with a movie star or musician, but that was where Carly shined. The lost and abandoned members of the world who may have come to the Movement for help. Only to end up in a body bag forgotten by the rest of 'civilized' society.

Aki couldn't blame her, Misty had lost her little brother. It wasn't a loss that was just overlooked, especially not when she had spent years placing her blame on the wrong person. Misty apparently had seen what uncontrolled hate could do to a soul and sought another way to deal with her loss. Inspirational yes, yet even with that logic in place in her mind, Aki missed Divine and wished he wasn't in jail. She wanted to visit him, but the twins were against that idea. Emphatically reminding her that she was still under his mind control through words. There was no guarantee that he wouldn't use her abilities to escape, after all he used her to take the blame for 'murder'.

The twins were young, and Ruka was similar to herself in terms of abilities, so Aki didn't want to make the twins upset about something she did. Granted it annoyed her to think that she was, in essence, taking orders from a pair of 'kids'. However; it wasn't just the kids, it was those three guys from Satellite. Under her glove there was a mark of the dragons' clawed foot that had been there since she was a child. Unlike normal tattoos or scars that stretched over the years or got discolored, that mark had remained growing up with her and now was hidden under a deep red fingerless glove.

But she had met the others who bore the same marks on their own bodies and she could no longer say that she was 'alone'. Not alone, now she was part of a small group and even had a role already in place for her to step into. A perfect weapon of destruction for Divine, yet with the others marked she was 'sister'. Save for the 'leader', Yusei seemed to have already decided what he wanted out of her, the role she was in his life.

Or he was an outrageously rude jerk. However; she doubted that, not after having traveled with him and seeing his 'mother' figure. He called her 'Aki', she called him 'Yusei' in returned. Was she willing to be 'that' to him? Was it friendship of the highest caliber that he offered or something even deeper? She didn't know.

She got up from her desk and walked to her phone that rested by her bed, flipping it open she texted a quick request to her father.

"I would like to go to Satellite today, father."

She couldn't voice or video that particular call. Yusei was a criminal, marked so and as such he wasn't good enough for her. At least that was public opinion, and public opinion also dictated that she was a terrifying witch that needed to be feared and hated. She couldn't really face her parents regarding him without a firm decision on where they stood. They had gone to him to help her, told him things that weren't any of his business. She had every right to be angry at him, offended at the invasion of her private life and pain. But in his touch when he woke her from her coma all she could recall was warmth.

He had such a cold, emotionally distant expression at all times, yet somehow through their marks she had felt the warmth of his heart. She attacked him, cut him, beat him repeatedly, but for him to keep coming back for more. Well either he was the world's biggest masochist or overwhelmingly determined to make his thoughts known outside of using words. Making understanding him all the more difficult, and thus making it hard to deflect what her parents were suggesting. They were quite encouraging of Aki spending time with Yusei, feeling he was a better influence on her then Divine was.

Her mother commented straight out over breakfast how, under Yusei's presence she learned to control her powers in less then a day, while spending years with Divine. Thus making her parents very proactive about her spending her free time with Yusei. Though she 'did' have the option of going back to school. Granted she was a senators' daughter and therefore quite the catch for anyone looking to go up in the ranks of politics. Still, a life wholly her own was rather a nice idea.

"Going to see Yusei?"

Her father's reply could almost drip with amused fatherly teasing, but Aki shook her head even as she typed.

"Yes, but I want to bring him back for a time as well, the twins miss him and seeing their big brother again would brighten their day. And yes, I want to see him, I want to know more about him, it's not fair that he knows more about me then I him."

"I see, I'll have a helicopter waiting for you at the hanger. Be careful though, just because Satellite is in the process of connecting back properly to Neo Domino doesn't mean the lawlessness has stopped."

"Father. I'll be fine. If you have to be worry about anyone, worry about the first fool that tries crossing 'me'."

Aki shook her head at her father, he was far to eager to put their years apart behind him. Granted that could be seen as a good thing, save that he seemed to forget that she could protect herself quite well. She went to the mirror at her dresser and began touching up a bit of make up, before she realized what she was doing. 'Really Aki? You don't even know if you want him in your life as anything and you're trying to make yourself appealing to him? Just get your deck.'

She grabbed her Duel Disk and slipped it on her arm before loading up her deck. Aki walked towards the door of her room when she found herself struck by a strange sort of apprehension. She was going to go and get on a helicopter to see someone that she barely knew. When was the last time she had actually done that? When was the last time she had actually gone to see someone by her own desire? While it was true that she had seen the twins several times since the last battle, they were kids and Yusei wasn't. So why was she was standing at her door with her hand resting on the doorknob?

Why was the idea of actually leaving to see 'Satellite Scum' enough to make her pause?

'Get a grip Aki, you can take care of yourself. You don't need Divine to lead you around or decide who you can and can not see. True the twins don't want you seeing him, but I suppose they have a point. Besides, Yusei is just Yusei, he's not going to hurt me.'

But even as she thought that, she recalled the twins' words and her own mind recalled how she slammed him into concrete, cut him, and how he had been harmed trying to help her. Maybe her reluctance was that she didn't want to screw up and she wasn't confident about her emotions around him. The worst possibility being that her cards came to life and attacked him. Yet, despite her youth, Ruka had been a good source of information. Pointing out that the Spirits would come out and react only if they felt she was threatened, that the Spirits were trying to protect her. Ruka had suggested talking to her deck, that they could hear and would respond to her. Yet Aki had felt stupid talking to a series of cards and been unwilling to do so.

When she had sat down with Ruka, the young girl explained that the spirits would come out to talk to her. But Aki never based her deck on that, her deck had gone from her interest in roses and love of plants to how she could hurt people. Few were humanoid monsters and most were, for the most part, living whips; cruelty and force were there focus of her selections for cards.

Ruka had gotten nervous at that, Aki was just too strong, too aggressive for the young girl to know how to respond to well. Rua tried to help, to soften Aki's hard shell of a personality and Aki did eventually learn to temper that strength. But Rukas' voice would come back to haunt her from time to time causing her to offhandedly try.

"Are you excited to see Stardust Dragon?" she asked as she pulled open the door of her room.

The shadow at her feet suddenly shot forward, ruby like eyes appeared as the shape distorted into her dragon's image. The hallway was too small for its true massive frame, but it raced off down the hallway towards the stairs leading to the ground floor, it lasted for only a moment and then the dragon was gone. For all the world, it might not have happened at all, save that Aki saw it. Her dragon answered her. No burning sensation on her arm, just a sense of surprise that was purely her own.

"Maybe... maybe we're both excited to see the pair."


	3. Chapter 2

The Judgement of the World

Written By: Lady Lunar Phoenix

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There is nothing fun about a slum. The buildings were a perpetual sorry state, fighting a losing war against gravity until walls untended fell. Trash was a constant sight, as was the smell of decay and the slow wasting away of life. It was a hard life, with no visible rewards save the fact that a person survived another day. Every day of life was a struggle, keeping what little you had, protecting those you dared to expend your energy to care for. But the people of Satellite weren't savages, true they got separated from the main land for reasons they didn't understand. True again, that the people in the main land never seemed to put much effort in rescuing them and leaving the island to rot on its own. So people did what they had to do to survive.

It was why Security had no issue or problems with their fellows losing duels or losing cards to the 'scum' of Satellite. Sure stealing was wrong, and no Security officer worth his badge was going to condone stealing under any circumstances. But these were just kids. There was never a shortage of Security officers who willingly took a dive in a duel to spare a kid an arrest when they were clearly starving. What good was law in a land of lawlessness? Where children barely could look after themselves? What kind of 'civilization' was Neo Domino, where their law enforcement forced food out of the mouths of homeless orphans? What God could turn a blind eye to the fact that the only reason, the only way, that these kids knew how to read or do math was from playing a childrens' card game?

Which was why Aki's insistence in this trip bothered the Security officer assigned as her escort. While it was true, that Aki wasn't wearing any real fancy jewelry, she 'was' wearing a low cut short dress and a high end Duel Disc on her arm. Couple that with her being a senators' daughter and this whole trip was a nightmare.

"Izayoi-san, are you sure that you wish to land here? Even an orphanage can have dangers within." The pilot called over his shoulder towards Aki as she watched the ruined buildings and garbage strewn street passed below. Glancing up she gave the pilot a look to the back of his head, his concern was professional of course. Then again Aki was more then capable of taking care of herself, she knew the risks. But she had also been to this particular orphanage before.

"I'll be fine, you'll be bringing myself and one other back to the city. I'll call you when it's time for the guest to return to this orphanage."

The helicopter began its descent in the large front yard of the orphanage, even as it landed Aki could see a familiar red Duel Wheel in the back yard. Yusei's familiar hair style and clothes tipped her off as she watched someone stand up and face the helicopter. She watched him until the building got between the two of them and her view was replaced with small children looking out of windows.

Martha stepped out of the orphanage not looking any worse for ware from her experience at the hands of the Earthbound. The children poured out behind her as Aki stepped down from the helicopter on her own. The older woman's expression shifted from a mixture of concern and curiosity to pleasure and amusement.

"Ahh it's that girl big brother Yusei likes!"

One of the girls called out gleefully, as they began to swarm around Aki in excitement. Martha shook her head in amusement before wading through the young bodies.

"I... what?" Aki wasn't sure how to handle that comment. If it was Divine she knew she would have blushed at the idea. But Yusei? Could he, a guy who clearly kept every emotion he felt close to his chest, like her? He treated her no differently then he treated any of his other friends, so was she special to him in some way?

Perhaps the children knew something she didn't, Martha had a knowing smile on her lips as though that was the case. The pilot stayed at the helicopter while some children went about showing interest in the vehicle.

"Aki-chan, what brings you here?" Martha greeted warmly as she walked closer to the duelist.

"The twins miss their big brother Yusei, I thought maybe I could surprise them," she replied politely while Martha moved aside and gestured for Aki to walk ahead.

"Ooh I see. Yusei will be thrilled to see you, though I know he won't show it. He's in the back working on his mechanical girlfriend." Martha answered with a warm smile lighting up her face. "You're a much prettier option. Go distract him will you? Maybe you can convince him to have lunch," and she winked at Aki.

Aki stood there floored, feeling her face go hot at that not subtle at all comment. "What?"

Martha gave Aki a look as the senators' daughter stood there sputtering in shock, not lady like at all but whatever. "Well, by that blush I'd say there's hope for him."

The children around them were smiling as though they were sharing a secret with Martha and Aki was hearing unearthly chuckles.

"Well come along kids, let's Aki-chan and Yusei have their time together. Or do you want me to go with you?" Martha offered, she moved aside with an extended hand gesturing to Aki to follow, but when she turned towards the corner of the orphanage she saw Yusei leaning against the wall. Martha herself couldn't stop the grin on her lips as she shook her head. "Never mind, seems Yusei is waiting for you himself."

Somehow just standing there seemed hard. Yusei was such an enigma to her, a person willing to put himself in the way of her anger, yet not hate her? She had always been taught people unlike her would fear and reject her, yet he didn't seem to have that problem. Knowing Ruka who never had a bad experience with her abilities not withstanding. She held her head high and walked towards Yusei while the shadow of Black Rose darted out.

It swarmed around Yusei its whip like 'roots' seemingly circle him causing her to pause in concern. Those dark eyes gazed at her in question if she wanted to see Yusei why was she scared? Not that Aki wanted to say she was scared, but she lacked the knowledge of how to explain these feelings. The children were gone into the orphanage and it wasn't noon yet, she shoved her confused thoughts away before resuming her walk towards Yusei.

For Yusei himself, he could tell something was wrong in the way Aki was looking and moving. Self containment, she moved like she was being restrained bringing his mind back to the Fortune Cup when they met in the hallway. Something was wrong, but then control wasn't something mastered within minutes. He cared too much about his friends to see them suffer or self destruct, and Aki was one of those people that he cared. She didn't need him, they both knew she could protect herself quite well with her powers. Yet on the other end of the spectrum it didn't change how he felt and was why he was willing to put himself into these types of situations.

Without a plan of action that he felt was suitable he turned when she reached him and began walking back to the back of the orphanage and his D-Wheel. They walked in this strange form of silence where neither knew exactly how to act. It just felt better to say nothing then to say anything. After all they didn't become 'friends' because of an accident, they were thrust together through the marks of their arms. That alone was not enough to make them 'instant best buddies for life'. Yusei, Jack, and Crow were already friends, the twins had each other, it was Aki who was the odd girl out. Now with the mark of the Dragon's head on Yusei, it was, in a sense, his duty to acclimate her to the group. Get the other two to accept her and the twins would fall in place as per their 'older brother'.

But where she would fit was the question. Yusei was the brains, Jack the muscle, Crow the quickness, with the twins serving as their innocent hearts. Where did that leave Aki? He pulled off his gloves and then his coat, he knocked a bucket over and put his jacket on it before motioning her to sit on the makeshift seat. It was done in such a fluid movement that she didn't catch on what he was doing until he sat down again and went back to work on the D-Wheel.

He had pulled his work gloves back on before working, but the sight of his dragon mark gave Aki something of a means to start a conversation.

"Did the children here ever ask about the mark on your arm? Either the tail or the head?" She finally asked, breaking their silent stalemate.

He shook his head, leaning back to grab a tool she didn't recognize, "I normally don't walk around without my jacket or gloves. If they asked any questions about the tail after my surgery then I don't know about it."

"Surgery? You didn't have the tail mark 'that' long, when did you have surgery?" She asked, sincerely concerned.

"A few days before your father came to get me." Short simple answers, that was Yusei all right.

"But... wouldn't you have still been in recovery?" She asked, baffled how he could have been doing such a thing. What doctor would allow a patient to just go back to his normal routine a couple of days after surgery? Maybe it wasn't that serious?

"You needed me."

That answer was enough to make her pause in surprise, that he would endanger himself for someone he barely knew? Could any human be 'that' self sacrificing?

"How serious was the surgery?" She asked as her fingers began to clench in concern for what he had been put through because of her.

"I had a piece of metal removed from my side," he reported casually, while going to his laptop.

"I'm afraid to ask how that happened," Aki replied, shaking her head at how nonchalant he sounded.

"I had an accident while dueling Kiryu," he answered dutifully as he read the screen.

"How bad was it?" she asked, she had attacked him when they dueled but he hadn't shown any pain from a surgery. She watched as he shrugged before shaking her head in answer. "No, I want to see where you got hurt. My father should have known better to drag you into a duel considering your condition."

He turned to look at her from over his shoulder, mildly confused to her strange form of concern. "What I went through was quite typical of living here." Her expression showed she wasn't backing down from this and with a slight sigh he stood up. He dipped down one thumb to pull down a bit of his pants while the other hand pulled up the shirt to show a good five inch vivid scar on his abdomen.

"Hey! Big Brother Yusei is stripping for his girlfriend!" a very young voice suddenly called out from an open window.

"Well then shut the window and let them have some privacy!" Martha's voice called back, full to the brim with amusement and teasing.

Yusei dropped his shirt back and whirled around to face the orphanage in one move. "MARTHA!"

Aki was a vivid red from embarrassment, while Yuseis' stance was that of an irate child with his shoulders up and his head tucked down a little. He threw himself back into his seat, trying to ignore the comments and focus back on his D-Wheel.

"I'm sorry. I didn't realize that they were watching," Aki apologized while trying to not look at Yusei.

"It's not your fault."

Once Yusei had learned of his parentage he had pretty well closed himself off from others. Not to say that he was the type to reject friends or not help those who needed him. However; the only people he had encountered for years were the people of Satellite and the fact that they suffered because of his father... Well who could blame him? When all around him were people who were hungry, cold, living in hopelessness and his dad was to blame? But children always tried to see the best of everything and apparently Yusei finding someone was something they wanted to see.

"I go back to school starting next week." Aki blurted out, her tone making it obvious she wanted to change subjects and wasn't sure how. She sat there more stiffly then normal with her hands folded over her knees and her eyes focused on the ground.

There was a long spell of silence from Yusei, he just seemed more interested in working on his D-Wheel then responding to her statement. But he turned out to surprise her when he leaned back in his seat and ask, "so what is school like?"

"Isn't there a school here?" She asked surprised by his answer. Her head tilted to the side as she watched him begin working on the laptop again.

"No, any schooling kids get here are from grown ups willing to teach. Martha taught us all the basics, but she doesn't have time beyond that. Anything else I learned was from reading duel monster cards." Yusei had paused as he spoke, his expression quiet and thoughtful as he did so glancing at her from over his shoulder. As though he expected some disdain for his lack of formal education, it wouldn't have been the first time after all.

"But then how did you afford the D-Wheel?" she asked as she placed her hand on his ride. After all without an education how could he have earned the money to make such a purchase?

"I built it by hand, this is the second one I've built. Jack took my first one, I built this to challenge him back when he took Stardust from me."

It took time before she could find her voice as she thought on that statement. There were no factories committed to constructing a D-Wheel on Satellite, nor shows to demonstrate the construction of one on television. The fact that he pulled it off on his own was impressive, to make something off a pile of garbage and produce a D-Wheel on his own? It was when she heard the whispers of her deck to say 'something' that she remembered his question.

"Ahh, well it's probably the same. We get sorted via age and grades, and we get taught the basics as well, hmm well stuff like reading, writing, math, science, history and such. Just the higher the grade the more detailed the classes become, I'll be attending the Duel Academy."

"'Duel Academy'?" he looked at her from over his shoulder, a raised eyebrow showing his confusion.

"Yes, it's the high school of Neo Domino," Aki replied.

"I would have thought it would be called 'Domino High School' or something," he noted before going back to his D-Wheel. "At least that's how it seemed to work in some of the shows I got glimpses of."

"Oh!" And at that Aki began to smile and laugh softly. "There's a story about that."

Yusei looked up at her laugh and leaned back, turning to give her his full attention, his expression both curious and focused on her.

Amused she looked up on an instinct to collect her thoughts. "Ok, the reason for 'Duel Academy' is because Kaiba-sama bought the school. But the story 'behind' it is that the girls were drawing gay porn of him and Muoto-san. It was rather big at the time, when Muoto-san's home was destroyed, Kaiba-sama took him in and well. First came the written comments then the artwork. So when Kaiba-sama bought the school he negated the art program and replaced it with a class on dueling so the classmates had to stop."

"Basically, all classes are given a set amount of time for each topic, except instead of an art class we learn about dueling."

He turned and he found the corner of his lips quirking upward, a very faint chuckle working its way up. "Really? They replaced an art class simply to get the girls to... why would the girls even do that?"

"Well..." Aki gave a faint shrug and looked away, after all both men had been rather famous. Even now pictures of them were still rather hot sells, "it wasn't just them though. The girls also did that to friends who were never even part of the school. Like these two Egyptian guys one of whom they say was the model for the original Dark Magician."

"I wish had gone to school," he noted almost sounding rueful.

"Why? You built a D-Wheel without a formal education, why go?" Aki asked, getting up to get closer to Yusei, to see what he was doing.

"Because..." he paused and stood up, like a magnet always pointing north he turned to face where Neo Domino stood.

Aki stood up but she was fortunate enough to see his expression. A strange blend of longing and questions, and something deeper that it took a moment for her to realize was regret.

"I have no money, so I've lacked ways to entertain myself for hours at a time. I used to think if my father hadn't done the things he did I'd be in a school. I'd learn how to be smart, but now... Even if you say I'm smart, I still feel like I'm missing something, maybe going to school would have given me that."

She reached out and gently touched his hand, as she tried to think of what to say. But kind words were not something she was strong at. But the second her hand touched his, beneath their gloves their marks burned to life. A shared mutual longing for something that had no name, just feelings that were shared and now made stronger between the pair.

Two sets of eyes looked up at each other in alarm, as the marks never came with instruction manuals. And heaven forbid if that moment was broadcast to the other members, Jack and Crow would be amused easily. But Ruka! Ruka in class.

…

Aki turned in embarrassment towards the orphanage and while the kids 'did' apparently close the windows...

Every single window of the orphanage had many eyes staring out at them, watching. Amused.

Oh hey there MARTHA!


End file.
